At a restaurant, a cockroach suddenly flew from somewhere and sat on a lady. She started screaming out of fear.

With a panic-stricken face and trembling voice, she started jumping, with both her hands desperately trying to get rid of the cockroach. Her reaction was contagious, as everyone in her group also got panicky.

The lady finally managed to push the cockroach away but …it landed on another lady in the group. Now, it was the turn of the other lady in the group to continue the drama.

The waiter rushed forward to their rescue. In the relay of throwing, the cockroach next fell upon the waiter.

The waiter stood firm, composed himself and observed the behavior of the cockroach on his shirt.When he was confident enough, he grabbed it with his fingers and threw it out of the restaurant.

Sipping my coffee and watching the amusement, the antenna of my mind picked up a few thoughts and started wondering, was the cockroach responsible for their histrionic behavior?

If so, then why was the waiter not disturbed?

He handled it near to perfection, without any chaos.

It is not the cockroach, but the inability of those people to handle the disturbance caused by the cockroach, that disturbed the ladies.

I realized that, it is not the shouting of my father or my boss or my wife that disturbs me, but it’s my inability to handle the disturbances caused by their shouting that disturbs me.

It’s not the traffic jams on the road that disturbs me, but my inability to handle the disturbance caused by the traffic jam that disturbs me.

This is a thought that I got as a forward. However as I read this through, more than once, could not but realize as to how true this stands in daily life. How often, if not rarely, do we allow situations to get the better of us? How often do we allow external forces to dictate how we think? How often do we see completely rational people act irrationally simply because of an incident that we are not prepared for. How often do we allow our mind to control the situation than our hearts?

No doubt easily spoken than enacted. But definitely not impossible. We don’t need to look for the cockroach to test our skills, but it could be a simple matter of being late to work due to an unplanned event. Do we reach flustered to work, or do we find the best solution to reach 5 minutes late, but calm?

Truly said: Life cannot be changed in a minute. But, a decision taken in a minute can change everything in Life!